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I’ll continue rolling with the kitchen remodel - let’s talk open shelves! Even though we love the look of open shelving in kitchens, we were a little hesitant to install them in our own kitchen because they aren’t super practical. Open shelves mean you see everything. And I mean, everything. But, because of where the windows were placed in our space, we didn’t have many options when it came to upper cabinets. After going back and forth, we ended up moving forward with open shelving. We had our cabinet guy custom make the shelves, as we wanted them to perfectly fit in between the windows.

The last decision we had to make when it came to open shelving was spacing. This element is crucial. We knew we wanted 18 inches from the counter to the first shelf, but we weren’t sure how many inches we wanted in between each shelf. To help us decide, we placed painter’s tape on the tile and lived with it for a few days.

When it came time for our cabinet guy to actually install the shelves, I must admit, I was nervous. You see, once you drill in to tile, there’s no going back. I felt good about our placement, but I wasn’t 100% certain because it’s hard to picture shelves when all you see is blue tape. I’m so, so happy to say that the shelf placement turned out swell, and we can now finally unpack our kitchen dishes! Here they are empty…

And here they are full…but NOT yet styled…

We still have loads of dishes to unpack so again, I haven’t arranged these shelves as I’d like, but it’s progress. And when you’re in the middle of a kitchen remodel, progress is huge:).

I owe you a kitchen remodel update. I also owe you a bathroom remodel update, but let’s stick with the kitchen remodel for now. Deal? Thus far, we’ve chatted about our marble countertops, our cabinet installation, and our hardwood floors. And let’s not forget about where we started. Now, let’s talk tile. We went with counter to ceiling white subway tile with delorean gray grout. It’s a lot of tile, but it’s clean and subtle enough that it doesn’t take over the room. The island will do most of the talking in this kitchen, so once that’s in (it’s only halfway installed in the photos), I’m hoping it will steal the show. All in all, the kitchen is a functioning space, and you can see the outline of where we’re going. Perhaps it actually looks like a kitchen?! I was dealing with some mad sun in these photos, so they aren’t the best, but again, hopefully you can get an idea of how things are shaping up…

What’s still to come? Let’s see if I can remember all that’s still in store…

1.) Installation of cabinet faces/hardware

2.) Installation of open shelving

3.) Paint wood windows

4.) Trim

5.) Final coat on wood floors

6.) Installation of island – only half is in place in the photos

7.) Installation of butcher block island top

8.) Decor, decor, decor!

Oh yes, and the unpacking of dozens of kitchen boxes is in store too. Ugh. Makes me tired just thinking about it. Sometimes I hesitate sharing these photos as there’s still much to do to make it look like an actual kitchen, but hopefully you can see the potential in this room:).

This weekend came and went in a flash. We spent a good chunk of our time over at the “new” house and made some serious progress on our first project. Demo day (err, weekend) was a success and we now have an entire dumpster full of old cabinets, dust and grime. The kitchen already feels lighter in so many ways and it’s incredibly gratifying to finally be able to get our hands on this home and make it ours. I’m happy to report that we made it out of there just before sunset yesterday – just in time for contractors to start their respective duties today.

Before demo day…

During demo…

And after demo day…

We only had one minor surprise. The last cabinet we tore out unveiled the ceiling of the basement staircase. Not a big deal though – our cabinet guy can surely work around it and you’ll never know it’s there.

All in all, a good first weekend spent in the new house. Many, many more updates to come this week…stay-tuned!